Method and device for establishing network connection service, and automatically switched optical network

ABSTRACT

A method for establishing a network connection service includes: initiating a request for establishing a network connection service from the user side of a source end to the user side of a sink end; a network ingress node and network egress node of the network connection service communicating through message exchange to determine a network connection between the two nodes for supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service; and the network ingress node and the network egress node establishing the network connection supporting the network connection service and configuring the adaptation stack, so as to establish the network connection service. With the invention, no manual configuration is needed, and it is possible to reduce the time delay in the connection establishment and facilitate multi-service transport under a multi-service transport network condition.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. US12/100,248, filed on Apr. 9, 2008, which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2006/002596, filed on Sep. 30, 2006. The International Application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200510100241.4 filed on Oct. 9, 2005. The afore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the technologies of network connection service establishment, and in particular, to a method and device for establishing a network connection service in an automatically switched optical network, and to an automatically switched optical network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the rapid development of data services represented by the Internet, transport networks has evolved from transporting voice services to transporting data services predominantly and transporting voice services at the same time. In addition to Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (P DH) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SD H) for voice services, the network connection services realized by transport networks further includes Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay (FR) and so on for data services.

To realize the above network connection services, transport network elements usually include one or more line-side ports, enabling reliable transport from a plurality of transport channels to a line by multiplexing and demultiplexing; one or more tributary units (or, referred to as user units), responsible for connecting service signals on the client layer; and one or more cross-connect modules, responsible for establishing a cross-connect between the tributary unit and the line-side port and between two line-side ports, so as to establish an end-to-end network connection service. At the first and last nodes of a network connection service, various user-side services of the network connection service need to be adapted to the network connection via an adapter, so as to transport the user-side services.

In the prior art, no matter for a Permanent Connection (PC) established by a network management system or for a Soft Permanent Connection (SPC) established through a control plane, the establishment mechanism of the network connection service usually includes the following steps.

First of all, the management plane selects the type and number of network connections for the network connection service, and then selects a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service.

Then, for a PC, the management plane establishes cross-connects for the network elements one by one so as to establish a network connection; or for an SPC, the network management system notifies the control plane to automatically establish the network connection.

Finally, the management plane accomplishes the adaptation of the ingress and egress network element from user-side services to the network connection.

In the above prior art, manual assignment is needed to configure the network connection supporting the network connection service and the adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service; as a result, the time delay in the connection establishment is increased. If there are a large number of services, it is difficult to trace and eliminate a failure caused by an error in the configuration. Additionally, in the case that a Switched Connection (SC) is established via a User Network Interface (UNI), the above prior art where the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service are configured manually, is only applicable to a transport network with a single switching capability to establish a simple connection, such as an end-to-end connection of VC-4/VC-3. However, it is inapplicable to multi-service transport network conditions in which various switching capabilities are integrated together.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a method and device for establishing a network connection service and an automatically switched optical network, which can establish the connection more quickly, and also facilitate multi-service transport under a multi-service transport network condition.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method for establishing a network connection service includes:

initiating to a network ingress node a request for establishing a network connection service from the user side of a source end to the user side of a sink end;

negotiating by the network ingress node and a network egress node of the network connection service through message exchange at a control plane, to determine a network connection between the two nodes for supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service; and

establishing, from the network ingress node to the network egress node, the network connection and configuring the adaptation stack at the network ingress and egress nodes, so as to establish the network connection service.

The process of negotiating by the network ingress node and the network egress node of the network connection service through the message exchange at the control plane includes:

sending, by the network ingress node, to the network egress node a connection request message, which carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the network ingress node;

determining, by the network egress node of the network connection service, the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes, according to the information on the network connection and the protocol adaptation stack supported by the network ingress node carried in the connection request message and the information on the network connection and the protocol adaptation stack supported by the network egress node; and

returning, by the network egress node of the network connection service, to the network ingress node a connection response message, which carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes, so as to accomplish the negotiation.

The process of determining the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes includes:

determining, by the network egress node of the network connection service, a network connection and protocol adaptation stack set supported by the two nodes, by matching optional network connection and protocol adaptation stack sets supported by the network ingress node of the network connection service with optional network connection and protocol adaptation stack sets supported by the network egress node.

Optionally, the information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes is: one network connection and protocol adaptation stack in the network connection and protocol adaptation stack set supported by the two nodes that is determined by the network egress node of the network connection service.

Optionally, the information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes is: the network connection and protocol adaptation stack set supported by the two nodes that is determined by the network egress node of the network connection service; and

the method further includes: in the case that the network ingress node fails to establish the network connection service with one network connection and protocol adaptation stack, establishing the network connection service with another network connection and protocol adaptation stack in the set.

Optionally, the process of determining the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes includes: determining a connection type, a source sub-network point (SNP) and a sink SNP of the network connection; and determining a type and corresponding parameters of the adaptation protocol of each layer to be adapted.

Optionally, the process of sending, by the network ingress node, to the network egress node the connection request message is: sending a Path message under the extended Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering Protocol (RSVP-TE); and

the process of returning, by the network egress node of the network connection service, to the network ingress node the connection response message is: returning a Resv message under the extended GMPLS RSVP-TE.

Optionally, extended connection and adaptation option objects in the Path message and the Resv message carry the information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service.

Optionally, the process of establishing, by the network ingress node and the network egress node, the network connection supporting the network connection service and configuring the adaptation stack includes: establishing, by the network ingress node and the network egress node, the network connection supporting the network connection service; configuring the adaptation stack by the network ingress node; and configuring the adaptation stack by the network egress node.

Optionally, the process of establishing, by the network ingress node and the network egress node, the network connection supporting the network connection service and configuring the adaptation stack includes: configuring, by the network egress node, the adaptation stack before returning the connection response message to the network ingress node; configuring, by the network ingress node, the adaptation stack after receiving the returned connection response message; and establishing, by the network ingress node and the network egress node, the network connection supporting the network connection service.

Optionally, the process of initiating to the network ingress node the request for establishing the network connection service from the user side of the source end to the user side of the sink end is: initiating, by request, to the network ingress node by the source end, or initiating to the network ingress node by a network management system.

Optionally, prior to the process of negotiating by the network ingress node and the network egress node of the network connection service through the message exchange at the control plane, the method further includes: transporting, by the network ingress node, a connection request message to the sink end via the network egress node; and transporting, by the network egress node, to the network ingress node a confirmation message of the sink end indicating acceptance of the connection request.

Optionally, the network connection service is an Ethernet service, and the protocol adaptation stack includes: an Ethernet service being encapsulated via Generic Framing Procedure and borne onto a virtual concatenation group, an Ethernet service being encapsulated via Generic Framing Procedure and borne onto a sub-wavelength of an optical transport network, or an Ethernet service being encapsulated via PWE3 and borne onto a label switched path of a multi-protocol label switching network.

According to another aspect of the invention, a device for establishing a network connection service in a network node includes:

a network connection service user interface unit, adapted to adapt an accessed network connection service;

at least one cross unit connected with the network connection service user interface unit, adapted to perform cross-connect for the adapted network connection service;

a network line interface unit adapted to access the network connection service for which the connection has been accomplished by the cross unit to a network; and

a control unit connected with the network connection service user interface unit, the cross unit and the network line interface unit respectively, adapted to negotiate through message exchange to determine a network connection supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service, and control the network connection service user interface unit, the cross unit and the network line interface unit to establish the network connection service.

Optionally, the control unit includes:

a connection request message sending unit, adapted to send to a remote end node a connection request message that carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by a local end node; and

a connection response message processing unit, adapted to process a received connection response message from the remote end node to obtain the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes.

Optionally, the control unit includes:

a connection request message processing unit, adapted to process a received connection request message from a remote end node to obtain information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the remote end node;

an information determining unit, adapted to determine the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes, according to the information on the network connection and the protocol adaptation stack supported by the remote end node carried in the connection request message and information on the network connection and the protocol adaptation stack supported by a local end node; and

a connection response message sending unit, adapted to send to the remote end node a connection response message that carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes.

According to another aspect of the invention, an automatically switched optical network includes a network ingress node of a network connection service and a network egress node of the network connection service; wherein the network ingress node and the network egress node are adapted to negotiate through message exchange at a control plane to determine a network connection between the two nodes for supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service, and establish the network connection supporting the network connection service and configure the adaptation stack, so as to establish the network connection service.

Optionally, the network ingress node and the network egress node both include:

a network connection service user interface unit, adapted to adapt an accessed network connection service;

at least one cross unit connected with the network connection service user interface unit, adapted to perform cross-connect for the adapted network connection service;

a network line interface unit, adapted to access the network connection service for which the connection has been accomplished by the cross unit to a network;

a control unit connected with the network connection service user interface unit, the cross unit and the network line interface unit respectively, adapted to negotiate through message exchange to determine a network connection supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service, and control the network connection service user interface unit, the cross unit and the network line interface unit to establish the network connection service.

In the invention, after a request for establishing a network connection service from the user side of the source end to the user side of the sink end is initiated, the network ingress node of the network connection service and the network egress node of the network connection service negotiate through message exchange at the control plane to determine a network connection between the two nodes for supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service; and finally, the network ingress node and egress node of the network connection service establish the network connection supporting the network connection service and the adaptation stack configuration so as to establish the network connection service. As a result, it is possible to realize end-to-end automation in the establishment of a network connection service, reduce manual interference, decrease the time delay in the connection establishment, facilitate multi-service transport under a multi-service transport network condition and thus improve the operating efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for realizing a network connection service according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary process of providing an Ethernet service in a transport network according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a partial structure for realizing a network connection service in a transport network element according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a protocol adaptation stack for transporting an Ethernet service according to one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a process of negotiating to establish an Ethernet service according to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a flow chart is shown to illustrate a method for realizing a network connection service according to one embodiment of the invention, which mainly includes the following steps.

Step 11: A request for establishing a network connection service from the user side of a source end to the user side of a sink end.

In a specific implementation, the request for establishing a network connection service is initiated, by request, to a network ingress node by the client end (source end) via a User Network Interface, or is initiated to the network ingress node by a network management system via a network management interface.

Step 12: The network ingress node of the network connection service sends to a network egress node a connection request message, which carries information on a network connection supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the network ingress node.

Step 13: The network egress node of the network connection service determines the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes, according to the information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the network ingress node in the connection request message and the information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the network egress node.

In a specific implementation, the network egress node of the network connection service may determine a network connection and protocol adaptation stack set supported by the two nodes by matching optional network connection and protocol adaptation stack sets supported by the network ingress node of the network connection service with optional network connection and protocol adaptation stack sets supported by the network egress node.

Step 14: The network egress node of the network connection service returns to the network ingress node a connection response message, which carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes, so as to accomplish the negotiation.

In a specific implementation, the egress node of the network connection service returns to the ingress node of the network connection service a network connection and protocol adaptation stack set supported by the two nodes or one network connection and protocol adaptation stack in the set.

Step 15: The network ingress node and egress node of the network connection service establish the network connection supporting the network connection service and the adaptation stack configuration, so as to establish the network connection service.

In one embodiment of the invention, the network management system or the source end may request the network ingress node of the network connection service to establish an end-to-end network connection service; the control plane of the network ingress node negotiates with the control plane of the network egress node after receiving the request, to obtain an optimized adaptation stack and one or more network connections to be established; then, the control plane of the transport network may establish a network connection by using a well-known signaling and routing protocol; and finally, the network ingress node (the first node) and the network egress node (the last node) accomplishes necessary adaptation stack configuration so as to establish the end-to-end network connection service.

Now, one embodiment in which an Ethernet service is established under a multi-service transport network condition will be illustrated. It needs to be noted that the establishing processes of other services (such as PDH, SDH, ATM and FR) are the same as this process, except for the difference in the adaptation stacks.

Referring to FIG. 2, an example in which a transport network provides an Ethernet service is shown. Network elements 20A and 20Z are the source and sink of a client end of an Ethernet service respectively, and network elements 20B, 20C, 20D and 20E are multi-service transport network elements, wherein the network elements 20B and 20D are boundary transport network elements, and transport network elements are connected via TDM lines, such as SDH links.

Referring to FIG. 3, a schematic diagram is shown to illustrate a partial structure for realizing a network connection service in the above transport network elements 20B, 20C, 20D and 20E.

The network elements include at least one type of cross unit, a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) cross unit 311 and a VC-4 cross unit 312 in the example shown in FIG. 3; at least one network connection service user interface unit, an Ethernet user interface unit 313 in this embodiment; at least one network line interface unit, an SDH line unit 314 in this embodiment; and additionally, a control unit 315, which can run the Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) and other control plane protocols, responsible for communicating with the network management system and other network elements and controlling the other units mentioned above to establish and maintain the network connection service (an Ethernet service in this embodiment).

In a specific implementation, the network connection service user interface unit is mainly adapted to adapt an accessed network connection service; the at least one cross unit, which is connected with the network connection service user interface unit, is adapted to perform cross-connect for the adapted network connection service; the network line interface unit is adapted to access the network connection service for which the connection has been accomplished by the cross unit to a network; and the control unit, which is connected with the network connection service user interface unit, cross unit and network line interface unit respectively, is adapted to control the negotiation through message exchange to determine the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service, and control the network connection service user interface unit, the cross unit and the network line access unit to establish the network connection service.

In this embodiment, the boundary transport network elements 20B and 20D of the Ethernet service may select MPLS transport or VC-4 Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) transport.

Referring to FIG. 4, taking transport via the VC-4 VCAT as an example, a mapping from Ethernet to an SDH Virtual Container (VC) needs to be implemented, which substantially includes the following network connection and protocol adaptation stack.

1) Ethernet Media Access Control (MAC) 410, including Virtual LAN (VLAN) processing.

2) Framing Protocol 420, for performing functions of packet encapsulation, framing and rate adaptation. At present, Generic Framing Procedure (GFP), Link Access Procedure for SDH (LAPS), Ethernet over SDH (EoS), and Packet over SDH (PoS) are generally used. For a specific framing protocol (such as GFP), the number of the protocol used also needs to be determined.

3) VCAT 430, for performing the process of mapping a high-rate user-side signal into a plurality of low-rate network-side transport pipes. Usually, the Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) cooperates with the VCAT to provide a dynamic transport rate adjustment as well as an automatic adjustment in the case of network connection failure. The VCAT and LCAS are optional.

4) Network Connection 440: network connections in SDH include higher-order channel VCs including VC-4 and VC-3, and lower-order channels including VC-12, VC-11. and standard contiguous concatenation of the signals, such as VC-4-4c, and VC-3-4c.

To implement an end-to-end Ethernet service transport, the granularities of the connection and the adaptation stack of an ingress boundary transport network element and an egress boundary transport network element for an Ethernet service need to be identical. The negotiation process may be accomplished via a signaling protocol of the control plane.

For example, in the process of establishing an Ethernet service from the network element 20A to the network element 20Z in the network shown in FIG. 2, reference may be made to FIG. 5 for the negotiation process. It needs to be noted that the message transfer among the following network elements is carried out via a special signaling network.

Step s1: The source-end network element 20A requests the boundary transport network element 20B to establish a Gigabit Ethernet (GE) connection from the source-end network element 20A to the sink-end network element 20Z. The request may be implemented via the UNI or the network management system.

Step s2: The boundary transport network element 20B resolves the request, learning that the sink-end network element 20Z is connected to the boundary transport network element 20D via a local or centralized address resolving method; and obtaining a possible bearing mode from the type of the service request (GE). It is assumed that GFP, VCAT and LCAS are supported,

for VC channel, VC-4 is supported;

for virtual concatenation, VC-4-xv, where x=1-7, is supported; and

for standard contiguous concatenation, VC-4-xc, where x=1/4/8, is supported.

The boundary transport network element 20B transfers the following “connection and adaptation negotiation” information to the boundary transport network element 20D: a) the request message of the source-end network element 20A; b) various bearing modes of the boundary transport network element 20B, which includes the following adaptation combinations in this embodiment: GFP/VC-4-xV, x=1-7; and GFP/VC-4-xc, x=1,4,8; and c) a sub-network point connected with the adapter (local port and channel, referred to as Sub-Network Point (SNP) in ITU-T). For the case of VCAT, a plurality of SNPs needs to be included (the number of which is the value of “x” in “VC-4-xV”); and for adjacent concatenation, an SNP with a minimal number needs to be given. If there are many adaptation modes of the boundary transport network element 20B for the service request, all the adaptation modes need to be sent to the boundary transport network element 20D via a plurality of pieces of “connection and adaptation negotiation” information. The sequence of these pieces of information may be used to reflect a priority, and the first “connection and adaptation negotiation” message as arranged is employed first.

Step s3: The boundary transport network element 20D receives the request from the boundary transport network element 20B, records the above information, and sends the request message of the source-end network element 20A to the sink-end network element 20Z.

Step s4: The sink-end network element 20Z checks and accepts the connection request, and returns a confirmation message to the boundary transport network element 20D.

Step s5: The boundary transport network element 20D receives the confirmation message, and matches the locally supported connections and protocol adaptation stacks according to the local information and the bearing information of the boundary transport network element 20B recorded in Step s3. If there are many matched connections and protocol adaptation stacks, the adaptation mode with the highest priority is selected to obtain optimized adaptation information. It is assumed that in comparison with the boundary transport network element 20B, the Ethernet bearing mode of the boundary transport network element 20D supports GFP in terms of framing protocol, and supports VCAT and LCAS, but not adjacent concatenation, in terms of network connection, i.e. GFP/VC-4-xV, x=1-7. It is learned by comparing with the information of the boundary transport network element 20B that the negotiated bearing mode is GFP/VC-4-7v, and the following information is returned to the boundary transport network element 20B: a) the request response message of the sink-end network element 20Z; b) the negotiated bearing mode, GFP/VC-4-7v in this example, which supports LCAS; and c) a set of SNPs connected with the adapter, which is arranged in the order of joining the VCAT group.

Steps s6-s9: The boundary transport network element 20B accepts the adaptation information returned by the boundary transport network element 20D, performs a signaling establishment process for the seven VC-4 connections corresponding to VC-4-7v, and repeats the signaling process until all the connections are established.

Step s10: The boundary transport network element 20B performs endpoint adaptation configuration, including MAC, GFP and VCAT configuration, adds the connections to a VCAT group sequentially, and notifies the boundary transport network element 20D to perform endpoint adaptation configuration.

Step s11: The boundary transport network element 20D accomplishes adaptation configuration in the same way, and notifies the sink-end network element 20Z that the service is established.

Step s12: The boundary transport network element 20B notifies the source-end network element 20A that the service is established.

The above signaling processes may be implemented via extended GMPLS protocol of the Internet Engineer Task Force (IETF). Except that Steps s6-s9 belong to I-NNI or E-NNI signaling, other signaling processes may correspond to the extension of GMPLS signaling messages. In particular, the part of network connection and adaptation negotiation needs to be implemented by extending an existing signaling protocol, as described below.

In the above steps, the network connection and adaptation negotiation process is piggybacked on a UNI signaling process; that is, the UNI processing and network connection and adaptation negotiation process may be accomplished in a single signaling process. In practice, the UNI signaling process may be performed first, and then the negotiation process is performed separately; that is, another signaling process is performed between the boundary transport network elements 20B and 20D after the sink-end network element 20Z makes a confirmation, so as to accomplish the network connection and adaptation negotiation.

It is not necessary for the protocol adaptation stack configuration of the boundary transport network elements 20B and 20D to be performed according to the above order of steps strictly. The boundary transport network element 20D of the egress may perform the protocol adaptation stack configuration between s4 and s5 first, and the boundary transport network element 20B of the ingress may perform the protocol adaptation stack configuration between s5 and s6.

It needs to be noted that the connection and protocol adaptation stack is determined by a boundary transport network element of the network egress in the above. In other words, the boundary transport network element of the network egress only returns an optimized network connection and adaptation stack to the boundary transport network element of the ingress, and at this point, once it fails to establish the service, the first node (the boundary transport network element of the network ingress) is required to remove the failed connection and corresponding protocol adaptation stack configuration, renegotiate a connection and protocol adaptation stack, and try to establish the service again. In practice, the boundary transport network element of the network egress may also return all the matched network connections and protocol adaptation stacks supported by the both nodes to the boundary transport network element of the network ingress. The network connections and protocol adaptation stacks are arranged by priority, and the network connection and protocol adaptation stack with the highest priority is employed first by the first node. Such an approach is advantageous in that: when the establishment of a service by the first node via a connection and protocol adaptation stack with the highest priority fails due to the network resources or other reasons, another possible connection and protocol adaptation stack may also be adopted.

In the invention, the above network connection and adaptation negotiation process may be implemented by extending the existing GMPLS extended RSVP-TE protocol. The following description of protocols is based on the RSVP-TE extended protocol, and only those related to the connection and adaptation negotiation are described.

The information on connection and adaptation negotiation may be carried in a Path and Resv message of the RSVP-TE protocol, and an end-to-end message communication is carried out between the boundary transport network elements of the ingress and egress. For example, to represent various adaptation types supported by the remote end, a new connection and adaptation option object CONNECTION_ADAPTER_OPTIONS needs to be introduced into the Path message, with the following format:

where:

1) Length: representing the length of the object, in the unit of octet, including a header, wherein the length of this object is variable;

2) Class-Num: representing a type number, the value of which is to be assigned;

3) C-Type: representing a subtype number, the value of which is to be assigned;

4) Subobjects: representing the information of every adaptation layer (arranged from a higher layer to a lower layer sequentially) and the sequence of connection endpoints (SNPs) of an adaptation stack encoded in the form of “length-type-subtype”.

The format of the Subobject for the adaptation layer information is as follows:

where:

1) Length: representing the length of the Subobject in the unit of octet;

2) Type: representing a type number, being 1 for the layer adaptation;

3) Sub-Type: representing a subtype number, being 1 for the layer adaptation;

4) Layer: representing a layer type code;

5) Layer-specifically-info: depending on the value of Layer to explain the content of this field.

The adaptation Subobject of the frame alignment layer is as follows:

where:

1) Type=1: representing the frame alignment adaptation layer;

2) G: indicating that GFP adaptation is supported if the bit is set;

3) L: indicating that LAPS adaptation is supported if the bit is set.

The adaptation Subobject of the VCAT and LCAS layers is as follows:

where:

1) Length: representing the length of the Subobject, being variable;

2) Type=2: representing the VCAT and LCAS layer adaptation;

3) V: indicating that VCAT is supported if the bit is set: otherwise, VCAT is not supported;

4) L: indicating that LCAS is supported if the bit is set; otherwise, LCAS is not supported;

5) Subobjects: each Subobject is representative of an optional basic signal type and related SNP code; if V bit indicates that VCAT is not supported, the Subobjects are representative of a type of non-concatenated signals.

The format of the Subobject for basic signal type is as follows:

where:

1) Sig Type: representing a basic signal type; according to the definition in the specification OIF UNI 1.0 R2, 5 is usually used to represent VC-3 and 6 is usually used to represent VC-4;

2) SNP ID Num: representing the number of local/remote SNPs appended to the current Subobject;

3) Minimum NVC: representing the minimum number of basic signals required by VCAT;

4) Maximum NVC: representing the maximum number of basic signals that can be supported by VCAT;

5) local SNP ID: representing the identification of a local internal connection endpoint of a network element, used as a start point in establishing a connection after the connection and adaptation negotiation;

6) remote SNP ID: representing the identification of an internal connection endpoint of a remote end; for a boundary transport network element node of the ingress, this field is filled in 0, and for a boundary transport network element of the egress, this field is filled in a received value of the local SNP ID field of the corresponding Subobject. The network element of the network ingress takes the local SNP ID and remote SNP ID as the start point and end point in establishing a connection.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the signaling process based on GMPLS RSVP-TE is the same as the above signaling step. It needs to be noted that: unless stated particularly, the following messages contain the information codes specified in the OIF UNI Interface specification, and the messages transferred in a specific signaling process is as follows.

Step s1: Path message, a connection request message sent from source UNI-C (i.e. the source-end network element 20A) to ingress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20B).

Step s2: Path message, a connection request message from the ingress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20B) to egress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20D). In addition to the standard request information, a new connection and adaptation option object CONNECTION_ADAPTER_OPTIONS is further introduced into the connection request message to carry all the possible connection and adaptation options for the request supported by the ingress UNI-N.

Step s3: Path message, a connection request message from the egress UNI-N (i.e. boundary transport network element 20D) to destination UNI-C (i.e. the sink-end network element 20Z).

Step s4: Resv message, a connection response message from the destination UNI-C (i.e. the sink-end network element 20Z) to the egress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20D).

Step s5: Resv message, a connection response message from the egress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20D) to the ingress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20B). In addition to the standard request information, a new connection and adaptation option object CONNECTION_ADAPTER_OPTIONS is further introduced into the connection response message to carry a specific type selected from the optional connection and adaptation type sets and obtained by the egress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20D) in Step s2, and give a correspondence between the local and remote SNP codes.

Steps s6-s9: All the connections may be established by employing standard GMPLS RSVP-TE signaling, and the start points and end points of the connections are given by the local and remote SNP code pair given in step s5.

Step s10: ResvConf message, for confirming that the service is established.

Step s11: ResvConf message, for confirming that the service is established.

Step s12: Resv message, via which the ingress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20B) notifies the source UNI-C (i.e. the source-end network element 20A) that the service is established.

In the above Step s5, as an alternative, all the adaptation modes supported by both of the egress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20D) and the ingress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20B) are returned to the ingress UNI-N (i.e. the boundary transport network element 20B) via a plurality of CONNECTION_ADAPTER_OPTIONS arranged in a descending order of priority, and then in step s6-s9, the connection and protocol adaptation stack with the highest priority is selected first to establish the connection.

In one embodiment of the transport network element according to the invention, the control unit includes: a connection request message sending unit, adapted to send to the remote end node a connection request message that carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the local end node; and a connection response message processing unit, adapted to process a received connection response message from the remote end node to obtain the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes. In such a case, the transport network element may be used as a network ingress node.

In another embodiment of the transport network element according to the invention, the control unit includes: a connection request message processing unit, adapted to process a received connection request message from the remote end node to obtain information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the remote end node; an information determining unit, adapted to determine the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes, according to the information on the network connection and the protocol adaptation stack supported by the remote end node carried in the connection request message and information of the network connection and the protocol adaptation stack supported by the local end node; and a connection response message sending unit, adapted to send to the remote end node a connection response message that carries information on the network connection supporting the network connection service and the protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side in the network connection service supported by the both nodes. In such a case, the transport network element may be used as a network egress node.

In one embodiment according to the invention, an automatically switched optical network includes a network ingress node of a network connection service and a network egress node of the network connection service; wherein the network ingress node and the network egress node are adapted to negotiate through message exchange at the control plane to determine a network connection between the two nodes for supporting the network connection service and a protocol adaptation stack from the user side to the network side for supporting the network connection service, and establish the network connection supporting the network connection service and configure the adaptation stack, so as to establish the network connection service. The network ingress node and the network-side egress node may be the network elements, respectively, mentioned in the above embodiments, and the description thereof is omitted here.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A method for establishing a network connection service, comprising: sending, from a first node to a second node, a notification message, which includes a signal type of a signal transmitted from the first node to the second node, and a protocol adaptation stack of the first node, wherein the protocol adaptation stack includes a Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) capability and a Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) capability of the first node, the VCAT capability indicates whether the first node supports VCAT, and the LCAS capability indicates whether the first node supports LCAS; receiving, by the first node, a response message from the second node that reflects information included in the notification message, wherein the response message is sent from the second node to the first node after the second node determines that the signal type is supported by the second node, and that the LCAS and/or VCAT that are/is supported by the first node are/is supported by the second node; and establishing, by the first node, the network connection service by transmitting a signal that has the signal type indicated in the notifying message; configuring the LCAS and/or VCAT that are/is supported by both the first node and the second node on the first node.
 2. The method for establishing a network connection service according to claim 1, wherein the first node is a network ingress node of the network connection service and the second node is a network egress node of the network connection service.
 3. The method for establishing a network connection service according to claim 1, further comprising: configuring, by the second node, the LCAS and/or VCAT that are/is supported by both the first node and the second node on the second node.
 4. The method for establishing a network connection service according to claim 1, wherein the process of sending, by the first node to the second node, the notifying message includes: sending a Path message under the extended Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering Protocol (RSVP-TE).
 5. The method for establishing a network connection service according to claim 1 further comprises: initiating, by a network management system, a request for establishing the network connection service from a user side of a source end to a user side of a sink end.
 6. The method for establishing a network connection service according to claim 5, wherein prior to sending from the first node to the second node the notifying message, the method further comprises: transporting, by the first node, a connection request message to the sink end via the second node; and transporting, by the second node, to the first node, a confirmation message of the sink end indicating acceptance of the connection request.
 7. An automatically switched optical network, comprising: a first node; and a second node, wherein the first node is configured to: send a notification message to the second node, wherein the notification message includes a signal type of the signal transmitted from the first node to the second node, and a protocol adaptation stack of the first node, wherein the protocol adaptation stack includes a Virtual Concatenation (VCAT) capability and a Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme (LCAS) capability of the first node MB, the VCAT capability indicates whether the first node supports VCAT, and the LCAS capability indicates whether the first node supports LCAS; receive a response message from the second node reflecting information included in the notifying message, wherein the response message is sent from the second node to the first node after the second node determines that the signal type is supported by the second node, and the LCAS and/or VCAT that are/is supported by the first node are/is supported by the second node; establish a network connection service by transmitting a signal that has the signal type indicated in the notification message; configure the LCAS and/or VCAT that are/is supported by both the first node and the second node on the first node.
 8. The network according to claim 7, wherein the first node is further configured to transport a connection request message to a sink end via the second node; and the second node is further configured to transport to the first node, a confirmation message of the sink end that indicates acceptance of the connection request. 